Auda ibu Tayi

Auda ibu Tayi (1874-1924) was a chief of the Howeitat tribe of Bedouin Arabs during the Arab Revolt of World War I. Initially motivated by promises of gold in the city of Aqaba, he later decided to fight alongside T.E. Lawrence for the cause of Arab independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Biography
Auda ibu Tayi was born in 1874 to the Howeitat clan of the Bedouin Arabs, and he became known as a fierce warrior. He killed 75 men himself and had over 30 battle scars from fighting against other tribes, and the Ottoman Empire paid him 150 golden guineas each month. However, in 1916 he was convinced by T.E. Lawrence to join the Arab Revolt against the Turks by promises of wealth in a large box in their city of Aqaba, and his problems with the Harith tribe were solved when Lawrence killed Gasim, a Harith tribesman who killed a Howeitat man in a blood feud. Auda was angered when no gold was found in the city (only paper money), but Lawrence wrote a promise in the absence of the King of the United Kingdom that he would pay him 1,000 golden guineas in ten days after he reached Cairo. Auda continued to support him until after a successful robbery of an Ottoman train carrying horses for cavalrymen, saying that he achieved what he set out for. Colonel Harry Brighton tried to stop him from deserting, but he left with his tribe and a stallion.

Later, he rejoined the revolt as Lawrence marched on Damascus in 1918, motivated by money that the British paid the Arabs to continue the war. He took part in the massacre of 250 retreating Ottoman troops who had just perpetrated the Tafas massacre against civilians in Syria, and he assisted in the conquest of Damascus from the Ottomans. Auda was a member of the Arab National Council, but feuds between him and the Harith tribe led to the continued bickering of the tribes and the collapse of the Arab government there. He died in 1924 at the age of 50.